


gentle pressure on my heart

by FlorBexter



Category: My Engineer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Relationship Snippets, Romance, Slice of Life, Snark, Thara being is unbelievable self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24231058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlorBexter/pseuds/FlorBexter
Summary: Little snippets about Thara and Frong being soft, snarky boyfriends.
Relationships: Thara/Frong
Comments: 52
Kudos: 313





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm obsessed with Frong and Thara, here I said it, I'm not ashamed :D Have some short soft boyfriends moments and be aware that Thara is a doctor and Frong is prone to hit himself all the time so there might be mentions of medical procedures, blood and injuries. 
> 
> The first part was already posted on Tumblr [here](https://florbexter.tumblr.com/post/618294684927787008/they-are-cute-thats-why-tharafrong-fic-frong) so if that looks familiar, that's the reason :D

Frong felt the headache wander from the back of his head towards his forehead and was not pleased about that development. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cool wall of the staircase he had found sanctuary in and breathed through the pain. The water bottle in his hands crinkled and all he wanted was to find a bed and sleep for a week but finals were around the corner and he needed to work through a whole lecture before he would allow himself to go home.

He frowned when he smelled the distinctive scent of antiseptic but kept his eyes closed. A hand curled around his and took the bottle gently out of his fingers.

“Do you need a painkiller?”

“I already took one, it just needs to kick in.”

“Is it the one from the very special, very nice first aid kit your smart boyfriend put in your bag?”

Frong snorted. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know how pleased Thara was about the fact that he was using the content of the very special, very nice first aid kit. Another good thing about keeping his eyes closed was that Thara put his hand on Frong’s head and started to slightly massage his scalp. He allowed himself a pleased sigh.

“Why did you find me?”, he asked when Thara seemed to be happy to just scratch his head for a while.

“I read between the lines of your last message and thought you would need some motivation to keep going.”

Frong’s curiosity was awoken. “What sort of motivation?”

“You need to open your eyes for that.”

Frong couldn’t hide his smile but kept his eyes closed. “If it’s a picture of Cupcake… he’s cute but not motivational.”

“It’s not a picture of Cupcake,” Thara promised and Frong doubted it but opened one eye slightly.

“It’s a picture of Cupcake _and_ me,” Thara exclaimed and held the phone against his head as if Frong wouldn’t recognize his face in the picture with the damn lizard. Frong raised his hand to push Thara’s face away.

“I’m motivated now,” he deadpanned, “Cupcake brought back my will to study.”

Thara pursed his lips. “Only Cupcake?”

“Of course, he’s the only lizard in my life,” Frong said and closed his eyes again, mostly because he didn’t need to see Thara making kissing-faces at Cupcake before he put his phone away.

“You should go home,” he said, “you had a double shift today.” He had sent the message about wanting to set the library on fire because he had thought Thara was already in his bed, sleeping. Trust him to be a knight in shining armour again and make Thara’s own night better even though he was beaten from his shift.

“How is the pain?”, Thara asked and ignored, as always, Frong’s attempt to just send him home.

“A bit better,” he answered and then raised his brows when Thara took one of his hands in his and started to put pressure on different places of his palm.

“Did you know that there are nerve pathways in the human hand which, if stimulated, can treat headaches?”

Frong felt a tingle wandering up his arm. “Are you really a doctor or are you just walking around in a coat because you look good in it?”, he asked gruffly and wanted to move his hand away because it felt weird, but also good and Thara looked at him with that soft smile and the crinkles around his eyes, indulgent and patient and sometimes Frong just wanted to push him away because he made him feel so much and he had no idea how people could handle that avalanche of emotions all the time. Thara’s fingers were still gently kneading his palm and Frong loved Thara’s hands, and gosh… he groaned and tried to get his own out of Thara’s grip.

“Stop that,” he said.

“Why?” Thara tilted his head and he either knew exactly what he was doing to Frong or had no idea, there was no in-between with him.

“You are making me horny,” Frong said and fought his flush down. He stood up and snatched the water bottle from the step Thara had put it down on. He needed some hydration when he was back in the library.

“Go home and sleep,” he demanded and when he turned around at the top of the stairs Thara smiled up at him, and it looked gentle and nice but Frong knew it was the smile of a pleased cat who had the mouse exactly where he wanted it. He would be the death of him, Frong decided.

* * *

“Do you know the proper way to treat a flesh wound?”

Frong looked up from where he was cutting off stems and frowned at Thara. He had no idea why exactly he had come by because they had agreed to meet at Thara’s place but if Thara wanted to wander around the shop until Frong was done… he couldn’t exactly stop him.

“I’m being careful,” he said and raised the shears, “I know what I’m doing.”

“I never said you weren’t.”

Thara had his hands inside his pockets and rocked back and forth from his toes to his heels and Frong could work while a costumer watched him but Thara’s weird intense stare made him nervous. Did he want him to cut himself?

“You know. I helped out in the flower shop since I could walk.”

“That’s cute.”

Frong mumbled ‘You are not cute’ and grabbed a ribbon to wrap the flowers up.

“Here,” he said when he was done and pushed the bouquet at Thara’s chest. He looked at him confused but took it. “For me?”, he asked and before he could pester Frong about the meanings of the flowers he quickly asked: “What is the proper way to treat a flesh wound?” Thara’s face lit up.

* * *

“You are very unlucky”, Thara murmured and Frong wanted to glare at him but there was blood trickling over his nose, so he kept his eyes shut.

“Mh not,” he mumbled.

“I never actually met someone getting hit by a pot which fell from a windowsill… that only happens in movies.”

“You only happen in movies,” Frong mumbled back and then kept quiet when Thara announced he was now stitching up the laceration on his head. He didn’t feel a thing and when he wasn’t quite so annoyed, he would tell Thara that the did a good job with the needle.

“Here,” Thara’s voice was quiet and soft against Fong’s face, “all good now, let me put a bandage over it for the first 24 hours and then I’m gonna clean up your face.”

Apparently head wounds bled a lot and Frong, who had not felt much pain from the wound itself, had been startled about his own reflection when he had waited for Thara in the emergency room. His whole face was bloodstained and the top of his button-down was a case for the biohazard trash. He knew Thara had a replacement shirt in his locker and he was determined to steal that for his way back home.

“I hope it’s warm enough,” Thara said and the next moment Frong felt something wet and soft against his skin. It took a while to get his face clean and when Thara said he could open his eyes he did so slowly and blinked against the sudden brightness. Thara smiled at him and Frong felt a surge of fondness flushing through his body.

He raised a hand to grab Thara’s coat lapel. “You really look good in that Dr Thara.”

“Oh my,” Thara said with a wide smile, “you really hit your head hard.”

* * *

Frong knew that kind of sparkle in Thara’s eyes. He knew that barely concealed smile, which wanted to break out, but he suppressed it to maintain the hoax of having no stupid plan up his sleeves.

“I swear P, if you bought a flying carpet which is just a carpet bolted to a tricycle, I will do something drastic.”

Thara stared at him and then Frong saw how he warmed up to the idea of owning a tricycle and gosh he should just have kept his mouth shut.

“It’s not a flying carpet on a tricycle,” he promised and that didn’t calm down Frong one bit. They just wanted to have one relaxed day before Frong would have to help in the shop for the Loi Krathong preparations and why couldn’t they just go out to eat and maybe get some ice cream?

“Did you rebuild your bike into a giant lizard bike so it would look like we would ride with a giant lizard that looks like Cupcake?”

Thara opened his mouth again and seemed rather disappointed that he hadn’t thought of that. Frong was going to mentally prepare himself for a ride on a bike that looked like a giant lizard in the future.

“It’s not any of that,” Thara promised and grabbed Frong by the arm to drag him down the last steps of the stairs. They turned a corner and Thara made ‘Ta-da’ at what looked like a tandem.

“A tandem!”, he said and Frong… didn’t find that terrible.

“That’s nice,” he admitted.

“Right? I thought so, too.” Thara was looking at the tandem like a proud father of a son who had just scored a goal in his first football game and Frong took one helmet from the basket on the floor.

“I will sit at the back,” he decided.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some more idea so here are more snippets for you - Is everyone as excited for the new episode as I am?? Thara is such a wild card I can't wait to see what he's up to while they are camping... are they camping or is this just a day trip? Whatever!!! Thara shenanigans! I can't wait!!!!!!

“Oh Frong… Oh! Don’t move you—”

“Yes, I am aware.” Frong turned around, slowly, carefully and tried to not freak out about the weird feeling of having something _solid_ in his hair. “Cupcake is on my head, I know.”

“How did that happen?”

“I think he escaped his cage, wandered along the wall and when I—”

Thara didn’t even pretend to hide the glee on his face nor his phone.

“Are you serious?”, Frong asked in exasperation but Thara was too occupied making pictures from every possible angle.

“Just stand still, can you… you know,” he waved with his hand, “turn your head a little bit to the side, you have thick hair Cupcake almost drowns in it.”

Frong did not turn his head a little bit to the side. He refused. Instead, he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Oh, come one,” Thara said and he had a godforsaken whine in his voice. “This is the cutest thing ever, please just smile, I need a picture, or I will die.”

“That’s not possible, how can you even be a doctor,” Frong murmured but Thara got on his toes to adjust his angle and he couldn’t not smile at that.

“That’s perfect.”

Frong wanted to shake his head in fond exasperation but he was afraid he would yeet Cupcake into the orbit with that.

“Can you take him down?”

“Oh just, I don’t want to pull your hair.”

“Yeah but I…” Frong had his hands raised around his head and just couldn’t… what… “What if I squish him? What if I hurt him when I use too much pressure?”

Frong had stared upwards and startled a bit when he turned his eyes straight ahead again with Thara looking at him with that gentle smile of his.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Thara said, “you’re just very kind.”

Frong bristled at that and gasped: “Hey no, what? Careful!” But Thara was, as always, like a bulldozer and gently but firmly put his hand on the back of Frong’s neck to pull him in. The kiss was sweet and nice but…

“I would be more into it if you would get Cupcake out of my hair,” he murmured against Thara’s lips. Thara chuckled and put a quick peck on his lips before he freed Cupcake from his hairy observation deck.

* * *

“So, those are from you.”

Frong stiffened and knew that he was visible even if he didn’t move a muscle, but he tried it anyway. He fluffed up the bouquet a last time and then turned towards the door and a smiling Thara.

“I was just… admiring them,” he said and hid the wrapping paper behind his back.

“Oh, you did?”

Frong straightened up. “Yes, I did.” He still wore his faculty uniform and brushed imaginary dust from his jacket.

“Then why are you here if not playing secret flower boy and putting flowers on my desk in secret?”

“Secret flower boy,” Frong huffed. “As if, can’t I just come over to see how you are doing?”

Thara just looked at him and it was that dangerous kind of look, the smile was always there, gentle, amused but the heat in his eyes made a shiver travel down Frong’s spine. He cleared his throat. This was not the right time for that, he decided.

“And as I can see you are fine, that’s great.”

A nurse, and her question for Thara, helped him make his escape a success and as he squeezed past Thara through the door he waved with his free hand, power-walked out of the hospital and threw the wrapping paper in the nearest bin. That had been a close call!

* * *

“Don’t move,” Frong demanded and ignored the silence full of questions from Thara. He buried his head deeper into the crook of Thara’s neck and laid one leg over Thara’s too for good measure. Now he felt like he could breathe again.

Thara laid still, as Frong wanted but Frong knew that kind of stillness was a contemplation about how he would approach his questioning and Frong made himself heavier, a silent answer.

Then Thara’s body relaxed under him and his hand found its way into Frong’s hair, a gentle pressure, a soft pull and Frong felt a hot prickle in his eyes. He had no idea why he felt so overwhelmed all of a sudden. He just had the feeling he was about to burst out of his skin, his head stuffed with thoughts he couldn’t sort, and he hated to feel that way. Thara’s other hand gently pried his fist from where he had it clenched into the blanket and entangled their fingers in a loose hold, his thumb stroking small circles on his skin.

Frong breathed in and it was wet and shaky, and he was so frustrated with himself. He liked to help in the flower shop, he liked his course of study, he liked going out with his friends but why did he want to scream at the thought to help his brother, to go to the library, going out to a bar?

“Hey,” Thara murmured and hugged him tighter. Frong felt a kiss at the top of his head and why was that the thing that made the lump in his throat more bearable?

“Tighter,” he demanded and Thara pulled him into his embrace, almost on top of him and entangled their legs in a way that made Frong feel Thara’s body around him even more.

That was good, he thought. That felt good.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your love for these little snippets ^^, here are the last moments for this fic and I hope you will enjoy them, too.

“I don’t really understand… Can’t you like… you know, buy him a new one?”

Frong sat back on his legs and stared at the contact photo of his brother on the screen of his phone.

“No, I can’t just buy him a new one Phi!” He crouched down again to look under the bed and of course, of fucking course Cupcake wasn’t under the bed, he hadn’t been the first time he had looked and now, at the third time, he wasn’t there either.

“You sure?” First did something that sent a wave of crinkly sounds through the phone and Frong was glad he had him on speaker.

“I can’t just buy him a new lizard! I was supposed to look after a very specific lizard and I’m not trying to deceive him just because I’m too dumb to look after that damn…”

“You sound stressed.”

Frong snorted. “Of course, I’m stressed! For three days he was happy in his cage and when P’Thara is about to pick him up he disappears!”

Frong still couldn’t believe Cupcake would do that to him! They had gotten along just fine. He had fed him crickets, had brushed his skin, had shown him around his apartment, why was he torturing him now?

“Can’t you tell Thara that he has to come back a bit later? So, you have more time?”

Frong rolled his eyes towards the phone and shook his closet lightly. Maybe he was hiding between the closet and the wall? Wait… if he moved the furniture, would he squish Cupcake to death?

“I already did. He was supposed to come by this morning, but I was able to convince him that he should go home first, shower, unpack his suitcase and all that jazz.”

“I guess you have to confess to him what happened,” First said and really? Frong should have asked Fang for advice.

“You’re not helping.”

“Hey! I said: _buy him a new lizard_ , that was helpful.”

Frong wanted to yell, just a short, heartfelt scream but he put his forehead against the side of his closet instead and breathed. It was no use telling his brother that Cupcake had most likely some kind of unique pattern on his little left backfoot with which Thara was able to identify him. Or maybe it was totally easy to tell apart Leopard Geckos, Frong had no idea.

“He’s going to forgive me,” Frong told the closet. “He’s going to be all nice about it.” Which sucked! Thara would smile at him and even put a hand on his shoulder and would say that it wasn’t his fault but Frong would know that behind that smile was pain and disappointment and he couldn’t stand that thought. Ugh.

“What did you say?”, First asked.

“Nothing,” Frong said back and picked up the phone. “I call you later, okay?”

“Okay, don’t be so upset about it, alright?”

Frong ended the call without replying and looked around in his flat. It wasn’t big. There wasn’t much space where a lizard could hide, and Cupcake had a rather distinctive pattern, but he was also a sly little bugger who had tasted the joy of outsmarting Frong… but maybe he was giving that gecko too much credit.

His phone vibrated with an incoming message and he sighed when he read that Thara was almost at his apartment complex with a heart emoji after his text. He didn’t deserve that emoji. He once had forgotten to take Miette with him when he had closed the flower shop why had he thought he was able to look after Cupcake for three days?

There was a knock on the door, and he dragged his feet to his fated doom. There was no need to make a brave face he decided as he opened the door. Thara stood outside of it, smiling brightly and because it could be the last time Frong just pulled him into a hug and squeezed tight, pressed his face in the crock of Thara’s neck and breathed him in. It only took Thara a surprised second to hug him back, a silent laugh shaking their bodies.

“That’s a nice welcome,” he said and maybe thought Frong would let him go now but Frong just held on tightly.

This was so unfair, he thought.

“And that’s a funny welcome,” Thara said to his surprise and Frong frowned. He glanced up to see that Thara looked at something above Frong and as he checked he was about to yell in joy.

Cupcake was glued to the lampshade, moving his little head back and forth.

“This…” _little shit_ , Frong wanted to say but his knees turned to jelly out of relief and now he had another reason to cling onto Thara.

“You are never allowed to leave again,” he ordered, and he might have sounded a bit dramatic, but he didn’t care at that moment.

* * *

“Now turn.”

With his arms still raised to his sides, Frong turned around so Thara was able to reach his back and sighed when another layer of cold sunscreen hit his back. You got sunburn one time while your doctor boyfriend was present to witness it and suddenly you were no longer allowed to look after your own skin protection.

He had once asked if Thara’s obsession with sun protection wasn’t a bit excessive, but he would never ask again because he didn’t get those two hours back Thara had lectured him about the dangers of sunburns and skin cancer.

“Do you think we will find the tree again?”, he asked and tried not to twitch when Thara’s fingers slid over the sensitive skin on his ribs.

“I wouldn’t know, right?”, Thara said and a teasing finger slid under the chain of his necklace and Frong smiled.

“Right, you let me work alone,” Frong countered and laughed when he got a little pinch for his cheek. “But I like that we’re here again.”

Thara’s arms embraced him and an exciting thrill rushed through him as he felt Thara on his back.

“You are?”

Frong nodded and looked over the camping site. He had no idea where Bohn and Duen were who went with them and he didn’t really care. Thara felt warm and solid behind him and it was, somehow, everything he ever wanted.

He brushed his fingers over Thara’s hands, crossed in front of his belly. “We could… you know, come back next year, too.” He had said the last words in a rush and felt his heartbeat in his throat, beating like crazy. Thara put his chin on his shoulder and squeezed him tighter.

“I think that’s a great idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” 


End file.
